


Another Universe, You Could Be Anyone

by ReLessThan1



Category: ANBU Legacy, Naruto (but only on the barest terms)
Genre: M/M, i hope you guys were seriously dropping hints there, the band au Ryouma asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 18:08:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15225000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReLessThan1/pseuds/ReLessThan1
Summary: uhhhhhhhhhhhh band au i guess don't take this too serious





	Another Universe, You Could Be Anyone

Ryouma desperately needs a new drummer. His previous one, Ueno Katsuko, had to quit after her father reappeared on the scene and dragged her into politics. And it's a damn shame, because she loved what she did, and though she wasn't precise, her ferocity was unmatched. Ryouma loved performing with her, vaulting around her drum kit while she smiled viciously and made suggestive comments.

So that brings Ryouma to the rich side of his band's hometown on a break between tours, directions queued up on his phone by Raidou, who swore Ryouma wouldn't be wasting his time.

"In a quarter of a mile, turn left onto Oak Lane. Your destination should be on the right," the pleasant electronic voice tells him.

"Thanks," Ryouma says almost unconsciously. A few more minutes and he parallel parks his beat-up old sedan in front of a house easily three times the size of the one he grew up in. He lets the car idle for a bit, steeling his nerves before he finally sighs and cuts the engine.

There are forsythia bushes lining the front steps, buds barely green with the promise of Spring. Ryouma takes a moment to plaster his least flirty smile on his face and knocks on the bright red front door.

* * *

Kakashi is hanging out at home alone, his younger brother at daycare and his adoptive father at work, debating whether to get out of bed and make himself a grilled cheese or something. Minato has been nagging Kakashi in the most irritatingly pleasant way possible to _go outside, meet someone, get a goddamned job, please_ , but a year since completing his Masters of Science in Physics he still feels burnt out. None of the career options seem interesting anymore, and if they ever did, Kakashi can't remember it.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the distant front door, and all eight dogs start barking. Kakashi groans and pulls the covers up higher over his head. A small patter of paws approaches, and then Kakashi has a face full of pug saliva.

"Alright, Pakkun, I'm coming," Kakashi says, barely managing to hold back a smile. He tucks Pakkun under his arm, swings his legs out of bed, and slides his feet into his pug slippers. On the way, he grabs an allergy mask from the bathroom and settles it over his face. Pollen is the worst this time of year.

When Kakashi opens the door after wading through a sea of dogs, there's a young man standing there who he swears he's seen somewhere, hands shoved in his pockets. He has an air about him that he's trying very hard to appear nonchalant, reflected in the gelled, yet messy, coif of his black hair.

"Can I help you?" Kakashi drawls, leaning against the doorframe.

"Tousaki Ryouma, lead singer and rhythm guitar for Knife in Your Back," the man says, holding out his hand. When Kakashi doesn't reciprocate the gesture, he drops it, wiping sweat off on his jeans. "Right, so're you Hatake? Lead guitarist sent me here sayin' you were a good drummer, and we really need one."

Kakashi crosses his arms as he tries to recall where he heard that band name before. "Depends. Are you paying me?"

"Depends," Ryouma shoots back with a wicked grin. "Are you any good?"

"You don't trust your lead guitarist?"

Ryouma's smile immediately drops and he fixes Kakashi with a glare. "I trust him that you're a good drummer. What I don't know is whether you can jam with us."

"Alright, fine. When do want me to stop by?"

"Right now!" Ryouma makes a grab for Kakashi's hand and starts to tow him towards the pockmarked car on the curb.

Kakashi wrests his hand back from Ryouma's grasp. "I'm not even dressed yet, and I'm hungry. I can't drum on an empty stomach."

"We'll get food on the way. C'mon, Gen and Rai are already gettin' set up! We've got a kit, too, so you don't gotta pack yours."

Kakashi gives Ryouma an incredulous look, then shrugs. Minato will probably be proud of him for leaving the house at all. "Hold on, let me lock up, at least?"

"Course. I'll go wait in the car."

Kakashi walks back inside to grab his phone, wallet, and house keys from the kitchen counter, then locks the front door as he leaves. Ryouma's car idles noisily.

"You should probably get your engine looked at," Kakashi points out helpfully.

"Eh, it's fine. I'd rather spend my money on other things." Ryouma punches the gas, speeding the two of them off towards certain doom.

"Like what? Surely having a functioning car is important."

"I said it's fine! It's just loud, is all. Plus, runnin' a band can get costly. I don't really have a head for numbers, that's Genma's job, but I think creature comforts on tour is more important."

"Oh? You guys are popular enough to tour?" Kakashi's opinion of Ryouma takes a dive when they pull into the queue at the Taco Bell drive thru.

"I'm going to ignore that little comment for the sake of our professional relationship. Dry shampoo, air freshener, and baby wipes are just the basics when it comes to my packing list. The little things add up, y'know."

"And Taco Bell factors into this how?"

"It's hard for me to resist an order of cheesy potatoes." Ryouma grins sheepishly. "Plus, Raidou's paying today, something about being a chivalrous host, or some shit."

Kakashi hums. "That's not dispelling my suspicions of your tour stops consisting of bars and garages."

"You're making it really hard to keep liking you." Ryouma's lip pouches out in a pout that Kakashi thought a grown man would be incapable of. It looks like he's about to say something else, but the red pickup in front of them pulls ahead, and he lists off an increasingly nausea-inducing list of items that could be considered edible.

"Get me three of the least offensive thing on the menu," Kakashi concedes. "I'll just have water when we get there."

Ryouma nods. "Three rice and bean burritos, too," he tells the dilapidated order box. They get their food, pay, and spend most of the drive to Raidou's house in awkward silence.

"So," Ryouma starts, "What kind of music do you usually listen to?"

"Dad likes to sing along to the Beach Boys or Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, but you probably meant what I like to listen to, which is piano concertos."

"You're fuckin' with me." Ryouma slams on the brakes at a red light and looks at Kakashi, who almost drops the bag of food.

"No, I'm not. I'm a classically trained pianist, among other things, though I do occasionally listen to The Fray and Coldplay."

Ryouma groans. "That's not right at all! We gotta get you on the good shit, like frnkiero and the cellabration, or Three Days Grace, but not their new album, that one sucked..." His voice trails off as they pull into a driveway, probably thinking about all of the music he's going to foist on Kakashi.

Kakashi just rolls his eye and gets out of the car before it's fully parked. Ryouma gets the message and hops out, jogging past Kakashi to ring the doorbell. A low voice calls back, "It's open!", so Ryouma leads Kakashi inside and down to the basement.

Surprisingly, a significant section of the basement is taken up by a windowed room with soundproof panels. A full drum set is already inside, along with two electric guitars, an electric bass, and two men doing a sound check who Kakashi assumes are Genma and Raidou. The more muscular of the two sets down his guitar and opens the thick door.

"Namiashi Raidou," he says, holding out his hand. Kakashi gives him the bag of food, and Raidou laughs. "Thanks for bringing him here, Ryouma. Hopefully this is the last drummer we have to audition."

"The only drummer, you mean," the other man says from behind Raidou. "I'm Shiranui Genma, by the way. Kurenai told us all about you."

Kakashi blinks. "Yuuhi said something positive about me? That's a first."

"Mostly," Ryouma pipes up from beside him. "She said you were a good musician, but that we'd have to convince you to work with us."

"Alright, then. Convince me."

Raidou steps forward, ushering everyone towards a coffee table with a legacy of scratches in it. "Over lunch, kids. I'm starving."

Kakashi makes an agreeing sound as he digs his three burritos out of the bag. Genma comes up with a salad, Raidou an unholy amount of meat products, and Ryouma a handful of hard shell tacos coated in cheese dust.

Ryouma makes an urgent sound and pulls out his phone. "Dinner music?" A song starts to pour from his phone's speakers with a pounding bassline and frantic drums. Then, a wrought, yet familiar, voice.

"Is this you guys?" Kakashi asks as he finishes off his first burrito.

"Yeah, from the last album we recorded, _Bloody Hands and Rotting Hearts_. We're supposed to go on tour to promote it in two weeks, but we can't do that without a drummer."

Kakashi coughs. "Two weeks - and you want me to tour with you? That's a hell of a short notice. What happened to your previous drummer? They sound like a perfect fit." He politely doesn't point out that the album name sounds like something an edgy middle schooler would come up with.

"Her bastard father scooped her up like she's not a goddamn adult who can make her own decisions."

"It's a good opportunity for Katsuko," Raidou points out, then snorts derisively. "If you pretend that she hated it here."

Genma sticks a toothpick between his teeth. "We can think about that bullshit later. Right now, we have a rehearsal to run and a rookie to train."

Kakashi shoots up with his second burrito half-finished, eager to try out the gleaming drum kit in the soundproof practice room. "I'll go warm up. Do you want me to copy Katsuko's cadences?"

Ryouma looks at Genma and Raidou, then shrugs. "Up to you. I know drummers like to have their own thing, so as long as you keep the same tempo, we won't stop you."

"That's generous," Kakashi says distractedly as he sits on the leather stool, tracing his fingers over the taut head on the snare. The drums have been obviously used, but well cared for nonetheless. A set of drumsticks taped with bright orange electrical tape rests on top of the floor tom. He picks them up, deeming the balance sufficient, and looks up to find he has an audience.

"Go on," Genma says encouragingly, sitting crosslegged on the floor. "We don't bite."

"I do," Ryouma corrects from his spot next to Genma. "But only if you ask nicely."

Kakashi snorts. "Warm-ups aren't all that entertaining to watch. I was just going to start with eight on a hand. It's...been some time since I played."

Raidou pops his head around the door. "If you're gonna stay on with us, take all the time you need, because we're going to be rehearsing a lot. We don't expect you to be perfect, just good enough. Everyone likes butter and salt on their popcorn?"

Ryouma tilts his head back until he's looking at Raidou upside-down and he reaches an arm back towards him. "I like cinnamon an' sugar on mine, too, Rai."

"Because you have no problems with destroying the sanctity of food. Chili flakes for you, Gen?"

"Of course, but don't act like you can talk about poor taste. You ate Katsuko's cooking on the last tour and said it wasn't bad. Even the squirrels wouldn't touch it."

"It was beef stew! Squirrels aren't omnivorous, are they- Why the hell are we talking about this? Hatake, what do you want on your popcorn?"

"I get popcorn?" Kakashi asks, genuinely surprised. "In that case, I just like it plain."

"Gotcha. Don't have too much fun while I'm gone, kids." Raidou closes the soundproof door as he leaves.

Kakashi takes that as his cue to limber up. He starts a simple, moderate tempo on the snare, eight on the right hand, eight on the left hand, striking the bass drum on the downbeats. It isn't long before he speeds up, adding the other drums into the cadence until it sounds like a concatenated scale. He looks up through his hair to see Genma slinging the bass over his shoulders. After a few more rounds, Kakashi pulls back to match the beat of the song that Ryouma played earlier and meets Genma's eyes.

Thankfully, Genma understands, and he plucks out the introductory melody. Ryouma scrambles up from the floor to find a microphone stand, and Kakashi lays into the drums, trying to emulate the intensity of the shoes he has to fill. It isn't his typical style, he prefers technical prowess over volume, but copying melodies is one thing he's always been good at and he's working up a sweat for the first time in months.

He's having fun for the first time in months.

Kakashi can't help but cackle with glee, which makes Ryouma turn around and waggle his eyebrows at him as he sings the line, "I'd ask you to fuck me over the table, but underhanded deals are more my speed~"

In response, Kakashi scowls and looks away from Ryouma, with his cocky grin and gyrating hips, and finishes out the song decently enough.

"That was pretty impressive for not having played in a few months," Genma says, looking pleased. "How did it feel?"

"Great, actually. Do you happen to have Katsuko's sheet music? I'd rather have it be muscle memory, at least until I settle in more." Kakashi cracks his knuckles and shakes his hands out. He's probably going to have to do some wrist strengthening exercises.

Genma raises an eyebrow at Ryouma, who laughs. "Gen an' Rai use sheet music when they write, but Katsu and I never have. She always wanted t'change things around at the last minute."

"How do you remember anything without writing it down? Do you even know how to read TAB?"

Ryouma looks up at the ceiling. "Nope. I've got near perfect aural recall, though, so if an idea pops into my head, I sing it into my phone. It's worked well enough for me, so far." He turns his eyes towards Kakashi. "How do _you_ play with all your hair in your face?"

"I remember where the drums are. Half the time, my eye isn't even open anyway."

At that moment, Raidou comes in bearing individual-sized bowls of stove-popped popcorn. "I always feel like I'm interrupting something," he says as he passes them out.

Ryouma's brow is furrowed as he munches on his sugary popcorn. "S'okay, Raidou. Kakashi passed his audition, but I dunno how, what with his eyes always bein' closed. You meant 'eyes', right?"

"No. I meant what I said - at most only one of my eyes is open." Kakashi shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth underneath the mask.

"Stop bein' so cryptic," Ryouma complains, ignoring Genma's quelling stare. "Just tell us what the hell you mean."

Kakashi balances his bowl on one of the drums and pushes his hair back, revealing the scarred left side of his face and the sunken eyelid there.

"Sorry," Ryouma says quietly, averting his gaze.

"Alright, then!" Raidou claps his hands together. "We've got twenty-five more songs to go through, and fourteen days to do 'em. Everyone ready to hit the ground running?"

"Always," Genma says, producing another toothpick from his pocket and sticking it between his teeth.

Ryouma immediately perks up. "Fuck yeah, I am!"

"I suppose," Kakashi says, "That it's time to tell Minato I've got a paying job."


End file.
